


Balance In The Middle Of The Chaos

by hummingrightalong, itslifethatscaresmetodeath



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: M/M, jaaron - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 23:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18041123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hummingrightalong/pseuds/hummingrightalong, https://archiveofourown.org/users/itslifethatscaresmetodeath/pseuds/itslifethatscaresmetodeath
Summary: We all know how Gracie came along.Paul and Aaron's family grows...(and itslifethatscaresmetodeath can't leave anything nice...this is all hers)





	1. Chapter 1

The squalling baby is in the middle of the road, fresh out of her mother, who is a bloody mess, dead for sure. What they assume was maybe father is nothing more than a pile of steaming bones, reanimated but picked clean. 

A head, uselessly snapping it's teeth as Paul walks by, using his sword to put the valiant man out of his misery. He must have tried to fight, resorted to becoming a distraction but now the hoard is closing in. It's little Trouble for Paul and Aaron to fight their way through the riled up walkers, making it through just in time to grab baby just as the mother begins to reanimate.

For a single heart-stopping moment, the two father's have the same thought, their eyes meeting before Aaron drives a knife through her head. The baby Paul is clutching to his chest was literally seconds away from being a Walker's first snack. Her own mother's walker. she's fucking bite sized. She's tiny like one of those shitty tiny candy bars that people buy to jipp kids out of a decent Halloween haul.

Aaron looks sad, he's always been the more sensitive of the two of them but Paul is dragging him up, handing off the baby, wrapped a flannel. they don't have time for this.

Snarls and groans, the shuffle of shambling footsteps tell them that there's more infected on the the way. Jesus looks at Aaron, drawing his sword. He tells him to make a run for the barn where they left the horses, hopefully still safe and sound. He points to the tree line, in the opposite direction from where the sounds are coming from. A clear path and a short distance are one of the small blessings that are so few and far between.

"Don't worry. You know I'll be fine. Just keep moving and don't stop til you get to the barn. Barricade the door, she's not gonna stop anytime soon but maybe try. If you can get Gracie to stop during the worst of her tantrums..." 

But...that's Paul. Paul is the Gracie whisperer. Aaron is a sucker. There's no time to argue, to tell the other man he's the best father he's ever met , in spite of his reluctance. He'll tell him later and nods, grabs Paul by the front of his new improvised armor - an experimental gift from the Kingdom - and kisses him hard. "You better-"

"I'll be right there. Have these fucking things killed me yet? I'll be offended later. Now move, the break isn't gonna last long. I love you."

"I love you." He's right. If anything kills Paul, and nothing is killing Paul, it'll certainly be fucking people. The shambling dead don't stand a chance.

Still, Aaron has always been a worrier...

Half an hour ticks by maddeningly slowly. He's done as instructed and every minute is an eternity as the baby won't stop crying. Aaron half expects the hoard to be at the door when Paul joins him, smiling, covered in blood. He's actually broken a sweat and looks happier than he has in a long time. A good fight always has this effect on him. Aaron might be jealous if he wasn't overwhelmingly and equally terrified and relieved...Annnnd if he didn't reap the benefits of the other man's 'excitement'.

Call getting off on killing a couple dozen walkers 'sick', 'twisted', whatever you want. In this world, you get your kicks where you can and one less of them is one less to worry about knocking on hilltop's door.

"Had to lead them a little ways in the other direction. Away from hilltop and the barn. It's our best chance," the admission let's Aaron know they literally and figuratively aren't out of the woods yet but Paul's spirits are elevated. always a good sign. it's only when Paul is worried that the rest of the them should be. "Eugene's noise makers... He's a genius. It might not last with her screaming like that...not that I blame her. And I'm not perfect, just as close as humanly possible," he teases. Aaron still believes every word. "We're risking stragglers by wasting time. Told you I'd be back. Let's ride."

Jesus can see he'll need to be babied later but there's just no time. He helps his shakes boyfriend on to his horse, mounts his own but Aaron stops him.

"You take her. You've got..."

"Two arms. Yeah, nothing new babe. Don't get insecure on me now..." more teasing. Aaron rolls his eyes but it's familiar and he's grateful. They're a flash, riding toward hilltop at full speed. 

Harlan looks over the baby, properly severs the umbilical cord one of them had improvised and tied into a knot. She's in surprisingly good shape under the circumstances but there's only one problem. They're short on formula. they've figured out how to make supplemental nutrition for newborns out of necessity but at the moment, for some reason - ahem, how is Valentine's day still a fucking thing?

Paul is about to head to the Kingdom, middle of the night or not. They're closer than Alexandria and if his luck holds, they'll have some to spare but fortunately, just as he's about to mount his horse, one of the residents who had also recently become a mother came out. She happily offered some of her own breast milk, more than willing to 'pitch in' so-to-speak. Especially it it was to help what the people around there considered their own person savior after his tireless efforts. He and Aaron hadn't needed to discuss it, they were keeping her, and if need be, they'd contact the other communities but they'll cross those bridges should they come to them. 

At the present moment, there's only one 'problem' to contend with...a little blonde princess that her daddy spoiled rotten. Sure, like every child her age, she'd done as expected and asked for a sibling. Last Christmas, a baby sister - so they had that on their side. 

But it's November. 11 months later. No telling how Rapunzel (as Paul liked to call her, his obsession with Disney didn't die with the world) would react.

When they introduce the girls that next morning, Gracie still in her pretty purple nighty, she's angry, pouting, her arms crossed. She stomps her foot. 

"It's about damn time!" she says. Paul rolls his eyes when Aaron caves, hating the encouragement - probably the only point of contention in their relationship and he can't help but wonder if Eric might have been better suited to deal...at least with Aaron and his tolerance of the bratty tone and the language she had to have picked up from 'uncle' Daryl. Paul knows he's Aaron's best friend but he's always had a tempestuous relationship with the older man that Paul will maintain to the grave stems from that first time he beat both him and Rick - in a truck and on foot. At the same time. That simple but unavoidable reminder of their age must've been painful but it's time to get over it Dixon...

"Well, that answers one question..." Aaron whispers. Their little girl isn't nearly satisfied though. Paul wants to smack him for looking so terrified of a 4 year old just because she was on the verge of a tantrum but he *does* appreciate the delicacy of the situation. So he kneels down it front of their bratty baby, uncrosses her arms and gently pulls them to rest at her sides.

She sighs dramatically and he copies the action. He knows it'll probably piss her off but the opportunity to play her own game and stoop to the level of a small child is too tempting to ignore. He has so few reasons to be immature and childish these days... especially after tonight.

"Now, Gracie, didn't we explain babies?" They had. Kinda. Aaron had been adamant that they weren't going to dumb it down, then chickened out at the last moment, leaving paul to improvise some half assed story about a stork and cabbage patches. "They take time, remember?" She is not impressed so Paul does what he does best. He improvised. "And, besides, her name is Autumn, what season is it? How silly would it be if she showed up in the middle of winter with a name like that?"

Aaron is literally holding his breath, hoping the lie takes...

"Then why not *last* fall?"

"Well, duh. You didn't ask til *last* December, silly. How many times do I have to tell you I can't read your mind? And Christmas is coming early. What a lucky little girl you are. You don't want santa to take her back, right?"

Suddenly she shakes her head and runs over to check out her "Christmas baby", all smiles.

Paul looks over his shoulder, meets Aaron's eyes and mouths, 'you so owe me'. Aaron nods emphatically. Yeah, he does. Not many men could pull that kinda brilliance out of their ass on the fly. The Gracie whisperer...


	2. If you want a baby, you have to help plant cabbages.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a prequel to the last chapter, Gracie learns where babies come from.

"Who the fuck would have had this talk with me, Aaron?! and she's, like, 4. I knew this would happen. I knew it..."

Aaron is hanging his head but due to their height difference, it only makes it easier for Paul to look him in the eye while scolding him. He'd been adamant about being up front with Gracie when she asked about babies and taken Maggie's advice (a thing one should do with caution because there's a reason she and Paul are such good friends, both of them being the shit stirrers they are). She told him, 'one of the cows is about to give birth'...

So about 10 minutes in, they both got grossed out, Aaron covered her eyes for another 5 before rushing her outside. Gracie would remain unscarred and uninformed. The latter was less than ideal for her. 

Which left Paul to scramble for an explanation. He wasn't going into the finer details of sex with a 4 year old - nope, no way - which left him no other choice. He'd have to get creative.

"Ok, so they grow in the cabbage patch. when they're ripe, once in a while, a teeny, tiny baby forms underneath and a stork -"

"What's a stork?"

"A big dorky looking bird with weird legs that brings babies. He's sensitive about it so he only comes at night and no one ever sees him. Now do you wanna ask questions or do you wanna know the rest of the story?"

"Babies."

"Ok. So the stork takes the tiny kinda baby thing to it's factory and brings it back when it's finished growing."

"But ladies have babies."

"But this is how two daddies have babies."

"You gotta plant cabbages?"

"Yeah, and big sisters usually help."  
She twirls a lock of hair and then smiles, accepting it as gospel, running off to play. Her father's share a collective sigh of relief as Paul shoots Aaron a dirty look. 

"I owe you?"

"You're in for it."

"Did you just secure child labor for the next planting season?" Aaron has accepted his failure and his fate but he can't help asking. 

"You're welcome."


End file.
